LONDON, ENGLAND – Despite news earlier this week that Visa Europe has offered to reduce interchange fees on debit cards, a Retail Week column challenged whether the announcement will convince the European Commission to end its antitrust proceedings.

Earlier this week, Visa Europe announced a plan to test market reducing interchange fees by 60% for domestic transactions and 30% for cross-border fees, a move welcomed by European Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia. However, Retail Week urged retailers to restrain their optimism and to be skeptical of an imminent final resolution.

Among Retail Week’s arguments for this cautious approach is Visa’s non-mention of addressing credit card fees. Additionally, MasterCard has already been down a similar process with the EC, only to drop the plan after a subsequent move to raise membership fees that banks had to pay generated stiff protest from retailers.

The European Commission said that if the proposal is successfully market-tested, it will be made legally binding, and that it will no longer pursue antitrust investigation into Visa Europe debit card fees. Retail Week said that Visa’s omission of its credit card fees still presents retailers with significant financial challenges, making the issue far from resolved.

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Visa Inc reported a 33 percent increase in second quarter earnings, better than Wall Street expected, as consumer spending rebounded and management said it was increasingly optimistic about the economy.

Welcome to Visa Inc.’s fiscal second quarter 2010 earnings conference call. With us today are Joe Saunders, Visa’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer and Byron Pollitt, Visa’s Chief Financial Officer. This call is currently being webcast over the Internet. It can be accessed on the Investor Relations section of our website at http://www.InvestorVisa.com.

A replay of the webcast will also be archived on our site for 30 days. A PowerPoint deck containing highlights of today’s commentary was posted to our website prior to this call. Let me also remind you that this presentation may include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995

SAN FRANCISCO, April 28, 2010 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Visa Inc. /quotes/comstock/13*!v/quotes/nls/v (V 92.19, -1.42, -1.52%) today announced financial results for the Company’s fiscal second quarter 2010 ended March 31, 2010. GAAP net income for the quarter was $713 million, or $0.96 per diluted class A common share. The weighted average number of diluted class A common shares outstanding was 742 million.

GAAP net operating revenue in the fiscal second quarter of 2010 was $2.0 billion, an increase of 19% over the prior year and driven by strong contributions across all revenue categories, in particular data processing and international transaction revenues.

“Our performance was fueled by higher than expected payments volume growth. As I discussed at our recent Investor Day, we are increasingly optimistic that economic growth will gradually improve,” said Joseph Saunders, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Visa Inc. “At the same time, we remain diligent about how we manage our business and finances throughout the current economic environment.”

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WayTooHigh.com: The Credit Card Interchange Report, is edited by Mitch Goldstone, co-founder of California-based ScanMyPhotos.com, the international online photo preservation service.
Goldstone and co-owner, Carl Berman are also the lead plaintiffs and class representatives in a antitrust class-action litigation against Visa, MasterCard and major banks that was filed in 2005.
This informational web site was created to provide news and commentary updates only. None of the information posted on WayTooHigh.com is intended to constitute legal arguments; it reflects only the opinions of its co-editors and not of any other plaintiffs or other parties involved in the merchant antitrust litigation. The information is not guaranteed to be correct, complete, or current. We make no warranty, express or implied, about the accuracy or reliability of the information posted by WayTooHigh.com or at any other Web site to which this site is linked. (c) 2010